The largest county is Pulaski with a population of 382,748. Its population grew by 5.9 percent since 2000. The other counties in the top five include Benton, with a population of 221,339 (increase of 44.3 percent); Washington, 203,065 (increase of 28.8 percent); Sebastian, 125,744 (increase of 9.3 percent); and Faulkner, 113,237 (increase of 31.6 percent).

The data is important in coming legislative and congressional redistricting.

This interactive data link is a pretty good overview and a way to select counties of interest. You'll note Hispanic/Latino origin population in Arkansas grew 114 percent over 10 years, to more than 6 percent of the population. Among racial identifications, the growth in black population was slightly greater than the growth in white population — 7 per cent to 5 percent — and the percentage each represents in total population is now 15 and 77 percent.

M.L. King Day: The open lines and a roundup of headlines and comment.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made several public appearances today as part of the observance of King Day and his remarks have included lauding the state's 2017 action (and his own) in ending the dual observance of King's birthday with that of a man who fought to preserve slavery, Robert E. Lee. I have one brief observation on his remarks:

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The Washington Post has published a map that counts Arkansas as among states that will "partially comply" with a sweeping request for voter data by the so-called election integrity commission set up by Donald Trump in an effort to cast doubt on Hillary Clinton's 3 million-vote popular defeat of him in 2016.